Citation

Reynolds MW, Wallace J, Hill TF, Weist MD, Nabors LA. Child Abuse Negl. 2001; 25(9): 1201-1206.

Affiliation

Loyola College of Maryland, Baltimore, USA.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2001, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

11700692

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: To investigate whether there are measurable gender differences in self-esteem and depression in elementary school-age children who have witnessed domestic violence. METHOD: Forty-five elementary school-age children who were identified as having witnessed domestic violence, and their teachers were surveyed for self-esteem, depression, and classroom behaviors. The results were compared between males and females using linear regression modeling. RESULTS: No significant gender differences were found for self-esteem and depression. An interaction between gender and post-traumatic stress was found to play a significant role in the interpretation of the results. CONCLUSIONS: Results indicated that higher levels of symptoms indicative of post-traumatic stress were associated with greater numbers of depressive symptoms and lower self-esteem for boys who had witnessed domestic violence. The results appeared similar to previous work with children and their emotional reactions to divorce.

Language: en